Inside a manor in Sootopolis City.
The atmosphere was a little strange.
"Hahahahaha! I can't stop laughing when I think about how you just called this guy's playstyle aggressive!"
Wallace mercilessly mocked Steven, who had just lost the match.
The Devon Corporation's young heir, with his short, pale blue hair, kept his composure. He simply pondered that crucial Ally Switch from the match.
"Hmm, it certainly was a little..." he murmured.
Wallace finished for him. "You mean cursed, right?"
One look at that jargon was enough for the viewers in Xia Chi's stream to know that Wallace was a longtime regular, too.
"Cursed."
Steven rolled the word around, then smiled easily. "That's a fitting description. I'll admit, it was pretty interesting."
"Thanks to [Jailbird Shui Waters Iono] for the Master Ball! That's generous of you! How does it feel to beat both Hoenn Champions? Uh, I wouldn't dare get ahead of myself. It's just a game, and both of them were clearly testing new strategies..."
The voice suddenly coming from beside him startled Steven. "What are you doing?"
"Watching the stream."
Wallace, who had just opened Xia Chi's stream, looked up at Steven with a smile tugging at his lips.
"Don't you want to know what they think of us?"
"Heh. How boring."
Despite his words, Steven pricked up his ears.
"...Team matchup played a huge part in that win. Rillaboom was a massive threat to Whiscash, and Kilowattrel's Electro Ball under Tailwind was just as dangerous to Skarmory. If Skarmory had gotten even a little breathing room to use Roost, then Whirlwind, with Whiscash using Toxic to wear us down, we would've had a tough time."
Oh, so Roost and Whirlwind were options, too!
Wallace had dragged Steven into playing, and Steven had thrown together a set without much thought. Now, it felt as though a whole new world had opened before him.
If I'd used that strategy against Leon in last year's Masters Tournament, could things have turned out differently?
Steven couldn't help imagining it.
"Still think it's boring?"
Wallace gave him another teasing smile.
Steven thought for a moment, then couldn't resist asking, "What was this streamer's name again?"
For the rest of the afternoon, the sounds of Xia Chi and Iono playing together filled the living room.
So did the occasional discussion between Wallace and Steven.
"Is Washing Machine really that useful? Should I raise one, too?"
"Using Ally Switch and Wonder Guard to let a teammate attack safely... So that's how you play Shedinja!"
"You can even pair it with a Pokémon that has Sturdy and knows Skill Swap? That's downright cursed!"
"Still going to dig for stones?"
"Forget it. Let's go tomorrow."
"Iono-sama's all tired out! Let's call it a day!"
After another victory in a Multi Battle, Iono's slightly tired voice came through his headset.
Xia Chi checked the time. Before he knew it, it was almost midnight.
I've been streaming for five hours? Has it really been that long?
Now that he was out of the tense, exciting atmosphere of battle, Xia Chi felt weariness creeping over him, too.
"Sure. Let's play again next time," he replied.
"Okay~ That's all for today's stream, then~ Hit follow as fast as a Quick Attack so you don't 'short out' and miss the next stream! Bye-bye~"
Iono's cheerful voice came through again.
"Hey, Iono, isn't this my stream?" Xia Chi asked, speechless.
"Oh, I forgot!"
Even through the headset, the girl's cuteness came across.
In a sweet, playful voice, Iono said, "But that's fine, isn't it? You don't mind, right, Shuiye?"
You're practically stealing my livelihood. How could I not mind?
Of course, Xia Chi wasn't going to say something that tactless aloud.
After joking around with Iono and the viewers for a bit, Xia Chi ended the voice call and clocked out.
"Phew... I'm exhausted. Human stamina really can't compare with a Pokémon's."
He straightened up, stretched, then opened the window and took a deep breath of Shanghai's cold, early-winter night air. It instantly perked him up.
"Meow~"
Sprigatito, who had been lying beside the mouse pad waiting for Xia Chi to finish work, walked over and meowed up at him.
With a chuckle, Xia Chi scooped the little cat up and began his nightly cat-snuggling routine-
He supported Sprigatito's bottom with one hand and expertly scratched under its chin with the other, then buried his entire face in its soft belly and inhaled deeply.
Sprigatito's unique scent, a blend of rich floral fragrance and the freshness of tender leaves, instantly filled his nose.
"Meow~"
Under Xia Chi's practiced massage, Sprigatito blissfully spread its toes, its cheeks faintly flushed. Like a tiny motor, it began to purr softly.
After a good long snuggle, Xia Chi found that all his fatigue had vanished.
Ahh, now this is the life I wanted in the Pokémon world!
That was his heartfelt thought.
"Has Misdreavus already gone out?"
Not seeing Misdreavus anywhere in the room, Xia Chi asked.
Sprigatito nodded. "Meow~"
It wouldn't stay here waiting for you like I do~
Picking up on Sprigatito's mood, Xia Chi smiled and stroked its little head. "All right, you don't have to keep me company anymore. Go find Misdreavus!"
Misdreavus was also carrying a Pokémon tracker Xia Chi had bought.
The device had another handy feature: once linked through the app, the two Pokémon could see each other's locations.
"Meow~"
After checking Misdreavus's location, Sprigatito said goodbye to Xia Chi and leaped out the window into the night.
Looking at the little blue dot representing Misdreavus on his phone app, Xia Chi suddenly remembered something.
"Come to think of it, I still haven't prepared any equipment for Misdreavus since catching it..."
He had piled all the starting gifts-artifacts, completed items, the Chosen Badge, and so on-onto Sprigatito. There was almost nothing left for Misdreavus.
But they were both his Pokémon. Even if he couldn't treat them perfectly equally, he couldn't favor one so much over the other.
That made the Shanghai Pokémon Cup finals in a week especially important. The official championship prize wasn't much of a concern.
He had to get this combat round's highest reward: the gold-tier Prismatic Orb.
Even if he couldn't pull another Artifact Forge, he at least had to make a completed item for Misdreavus.
Right, there's also the Dark-type synergy's Fear.
Ever since Xia Chi had found the system notifications annoying and switched them to do-not-disturb mode a while back, he hadn't checked his Fear gains in quite some time.
I remember it being a little over sixty when I checked a few days ago?
He had fought plenty of battles over the past two days thanks to the Shanghai Pokémon Cup. Time to see how much it had risen.
Full of anticipation, Xia Chi checked his Fear, then his expression darkened.
Fuck, why is it only 72.2?!
And here I thought the Shanghai Pokémon Cup would be a great farming spot!
Still, thinking about it, the first half of the preliminaries had mostly been Bug Catchers and Youngsters.
The opponents had improved in the latter half, but there weren't enough matches. A gain of eight or nine points was already pretty good.
The good news was that almost all eight or nine points of Fear had come from the last three or four matches.
The round-of-sixteen match against Haunter alone had netted him 4.6 Fear!
If everything goes smoothly, there are still three matches left. Maybe I can push my Fear to 90?
Then I can enjoy another round of Fear treasure chests.
The future's looking bright!
Filled with happy anticipation, Xia Chi went to bed in high spirits.
Before you continue